Changeable key cylinder lock



Nmr; '2, 1948. c. GABRIELSEN CHANGEAI BLE KEY CYLINDER LOCK Filed Feb.21, 1947 6 m m N T 4 w M I N6 1% w h L l 3 w w/ 4 w r V] I E H C 4 1 m Eu .f M W H H 0 Z 4 t 2 m m w ag iii 64 44 7o HTTORNEY Patented Nov. 2,1948 2,453,066- CHANGEABLEKEY CYLINDERCLOCK Christian Gabrielsen;Whippanyy-Nlt, assignorztou ThQiRDWEfMaIlsHfatuUil'lg'C0.3 Ir-:;Whippany, N.J., at corporationrof New-York Application February-:21,1947, Serial" N 6: 730,05?

laoiaims. (canoe-385)- invention relates cylinder-lock 'and moreparticularly: to an improved cylinder" lock having a plurality: oftumblers; Whichmay be readily, convenient'lysand expeditiously changectI to accommodate a large numberof different keys and whichoperatesonly"on' the -'k'eytowwhichthe lock' is seti In offifies" andapartments' which are let for short periods of time to successivetenants; it is undesirableffom the neW-tenantspoint of view,

to retain" the for-mer lock onnthe door to the premises." It" is never"known" with: certainty whether the: former occupant has distributedkeysto employees who migh't thus be enabled to obtain; unauthorizedaccess tothe: succeeding tenant's premises. This conditiorrfrequentlynecessitates the expensive procedure of removing locks from doors and'replaoing themz- Tl'iemtoo; the"danger'- of losihgrzkeys 1 makes itnecessary for a manufacturerto'keep'large stocks of keys avail ableto'fit the lock's whiclr he has sold; In many; cases when a key is lostand 'no record has *been made- 0f its number; the lockmust bedestroyedi' In the automatic merchandisingbusiness wherevending machinesare employed, it sometimes'be comes necessary tochange I the locks on Iallof thevending machines owned by an operator due to 'thecircumstance-of an employee havingbeen discharged or having" left" theservice of the operatoror"for-the"reason that agkey is', lost; whichmight enable anunauthorized person to have access to' the 1 m'oneysdeposited in': such machines. In strong boxes and" other lockedcompartments where-forsafetys sake the owner desiresa key which isunderhis-controhaione; it is extremely desirable to provide a lockwhich: may be set to apreoletermined keY'OffaIl'llIlkIlQWIl andindividual contour.

One: obj ect* of, myinvention is to" provide acylinder lock Which" maybe readily, simply "amt convenientlygset. to aoperategoni a key chosenhfr'om anydesired" number; of predetermined Tcontoursi Anotherobjectoimy.inventionis toopreyide a; cylinderxlock. in. which. the,.-key may beireadlily, changed soothat the lock-will operate successively to variouskeys depending out the: key; to which the lock is set.

Another objectof I my-inyention is co-provide alock'.w-hich :issubstantially resistant to picking:

Another robject of? my: invention-2 is: to provide arlock-which wheatsettoa key ofiazgiven contour,- can be opened. only by the keyofsthatcontour and-t, cannot :betmastered:

Anathema object ofii'my invention::iisstooprovide toa changeable keyawcylin'der look of improved sand: :novetrconstrum tion:

Other-.1; and: further objects: of? my?) invention: willuappeariirom::theefollowingsdeseriptionei In the accompanying drawings:WhlLChQLfOIIH' part oir the ainstant specificationaaml whichw are to: beread-iir'r'conjunctiom therewith aan'dtin avhiclr likereferencemumeralsr are usedzritorinclioateelikeper-ts mart'hevarioussviewss it t Figure liis a wperspective viewroft arlookztshowin zoneembod-imenttofimywimzention;

Figure 221s;- a sectional: rviewvtakenc on? therizline 2+2lvofxlFigmte1;:

Figure 351s: as sectional iviewirtak'en :=on;: the line 3 3CofflFigu11ei I Figure 421s a:fragmentarywviewxomamenlarged scale takenwonxthe-line42-4120 .Figureifir.

Inogenerala my; invention contemplates: at. lock:

hayinguazcylincierzmounted f or rotation-in a: house ing.Thesrotatiomoffithe .cylincler'ris adaptedcxto operate-ca locki'b'olts.Tumblers: comprising sliderablewplatesrcarriedwby' thexcylinder rarenormally adaptedi tooimmobilizetatheecylinrieraby coaction'with'rawpluralitwof ad jlustableeplatesmarried by the housing;corresponding in numbers to, the number ofwtumbierse. The: housingplates; are mounted forrreacly adjustmentawherebymherposis tions r towhich r the tumblers lnllS'B? be move an to freethe:cylindrwcanheareadiIy changed: Upon withzopenings' H an.d:f|'through' whichxtheslook mayr'bi'e secured to a 0011;"cabinemort-theeliket Ito orbeeunderstooolj;howevemthatanysecuring:meansrknowm torthe art' mayrbezemployed.i Roe tatablycmountedf within:the: housing, Iiiproyides' as: cylinder Mu formed with? a key slot; 16;-andriaf bore I8 iformedrxtransversely. ofith'ex cylindervfo'nthevreception of? thestumblersrmrand' a; keyrguide' 221iAi-iretainertbushingil Eris carried byatheehouse ing ancl p'ositionscthe; rightehands: side. of the cylinder The'wen-dmofthewcylinder:M-aisrproa vided:witlrzaacpainzof tonguesQZMandc- ZB formed integral-1y?therewith; A; b01133 operating; crank? 32iiisnsecureddtomthescylindertongues 2411 atrdaZB: bwmachine EVSGT-BWS. 2'8Iran'd 30! A crank-La pine3! upon which may be mounted a bushing 36 is carried by the end of thecrank 32. The crank pin is adapted to engage the bolt or bolt operatingmember (not shown) of any appropriate design. The slot I 6 in thecylinder and the slot 38 formed in the key guide 22 have the same crosssectional shape and may have any desired form to receive a key 40. Theupper contour 42 of the key 46, longitudinally thereof, is complementaryto the lower contour 44 of the key. In other words, the distance betweenthe upper contour curve 42 and the lower contour curve 44 is constantand is always substantially equal to the vertical dimension of theopening 46 formed in each of the tumblers 28. This opening can be seenby reference to Figure 3. Each of the tumblers 26, it will be seen, isformed with a central opening, the vertical dimension of which isconstant and the horizontal dimension of which is equal to the thicknessof the key. Since the tumblers must move up and down, the sides of eachof the openings 46 in the tumblers 26 are parallel. Each of the tumblersis provided with an upper projection or lug 48 and a lower projection orlug 50. The tumblers are provided with openings 52 and tumbler springretaining lugs 54. The tumblers are adapted to be assembled in pairswith a tumbler spring 56 sandwiched between each pair of adjacenttumblers, as can readily be seen by reference to Figure 4. The tumblerspring is hooked underneath the upper retaining lug 54 and over thelower retaining lug 54 of adjacent tumbler plates 20. In this manner,when the key is removed the tumbler spring 56 will move every othertumbler 20 upwardly and every alternate tumbler downwardly. Assembledbetween the housing 6 and clamped between the housing and the coverplate 12 by means of a pair of screws, 58 and 66, I provide a number oflocking plates 62, 63, 64, 66, 68 and 10. Each of the locking plates isprovided with an upper wing 16 and a lower wing 18. 'Each of the wingsis formed with slots 14 through which clamping screws 58 and 68 pass.When the screws 58 and 60 are loosened, the locking plates 62, 63, 64,66, 68 and may be individually moved in a vertical direction through thedistance determined by the length of the slots 14. Washers 86 and 82 areprovided between the heads of screws 58 and'68 and the cover plate l2.Each of the locking plates is provided with an opening 12. The openingis elliptical in shape and has a minor axis equal to the distancebetween the top of upper projection 48 and the bottom of lowerprojection 58. The

major axis is equal to at least the minor axis plus the differencebetween the diameter of the clamping screws 58 and the length of theslot 14 formed in the wing 16 of the locking plates. The dimension ofthe major axis is not critical and as long as it is at least as large asindicated, the dimension is sufiicient. Each of the locking plates 62,63,64, 66, 68 and 16 is provided with an upper notch 84 and a lowernotch 86 adapted to coact with the locking lugs 48 and 58 carried by thetumblers. In other words, a tumbler 20 may be moved upwardly by thetumbler spring so that lug 48 will be seated in notch 84 or be moveddownwardly by the tumbler spring so that lug 58 of the tumbler will beseated in notch 86. In

the embodiment I have described, the tumbler springs are assembled sothat tumbler plates 26 of the three pairs shown in the drawings aremoved downwardly to seat in the lower notches of locking plates 62, 64and 68 and moved upwardly to seat in the upper notches of locking plates63, 66, and 10. By using a contracting spring instead of an expandingspring, the tumblers may be constrained to move in opposite relativedirections, in which case the upper lugs 48 of alternate tumblers willseat in the upper notches of locking plates 62, 64 and 66. In this casethe lower lugs 50 of opposite tumblers 20 will seat in the lower notches86 of locking plates 63, 68 and 18.

In operation, the tumblers are brought to unlocked position as shown inFigures 2 and 3 by the insertion of a proper key 48. When this occurs,the cylinder l4 may be turned by the key to the dotted line positionshown in Figure 3 thus rotating the crank 32 to operate the bolt movingit to unlocked position. Each pair of lugs 48 and 56 will be free ofrespective notches 84 and 86 of respective locking plates. When it isdesired to change keys, a new key of a different contour is insertedinto the cylinder when the cylinder is in unlocked or dotted lineposition. The screws 56 and 60 are loosened just sufficiently to permitthe locking plates to move under camming action of the lugs 48 and 50against the sides of the openings 12 but not suificientlyto permit thelocking plates to move freely about. In other words, it is contemplatedthat the friction between adjacent locking plates will still remainsufiicient under the lessened pressure of the screw so that the plateswill retain any position to which they are set. If desired, the lateralsurfaces of the locking plate wings may be provided with anti-frictionsurfaces. The cylinder is rotated by the new key to locked position.During this rotation the lugs 68 and 50 will cam the locking plateseither upwardly or downwardly depending on the contour of the key sothat each plate is in the position shown in Figure 3. The axis of eachplate, it is to be understood, may be displaced one from the otherdepending on the shape of the key. The screws 58 and 66 are thentightened so that the locking plates are now clamped in their newpositions. The washers 86 and'82 may be locking washers if desired. Thekey is then removed and the tumbler springs 56 will move the lugs 48 and56 of adjacent pairs of tumblers upwardly and downwardly again causingthe cylinder to be locked. The old key is now ineffective to operate thecylinder and it can be unlocked only with the new key.

' It will be seen that I have accomplished the objects of my invention.I have provided a lock towhich the key may be readily changed and whichnevertheless is adapted to be opened only in response to a key of apredetermined contour. Due to the overlapping relation of the tumblersand due to the shape of the tumblers, it is substantially impossible topick my lock. The arrangement, furthermore, is such that a master keycannot be used for a plurality of locks. By means of my lock, officesand apartments may be let to successive tenants and a new key beprovided to which the lock may be readily adapted thus avoiding thenecessity of changing looks when it is desired to change keys. The oldtenants and their privies who might be in possession of former keys arenow denied access to the premises. If a key is lost and access can begained to the omce or apartment through another door, the lock may beremoved from the inside. and readily adapted to a new key without thenecessity of destroying the lock,

It will be understood that certain features and sub-combinations are ofutility and may be employed without reference to other features andsub-combinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of myclaims. It is further obvious that various changes may be made indetails within the scope of my claims without departing from the spiritof my invention. It is therefore understood that my invention is not tobe limited to the specific details shown and described.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A look, including in combination a body member, a cylinder rotatablymounted in said body member, a bore formed in said cylinder extendingtransversely of its axis of rotation, a plurality of tumblers movablymounted in said bore, a corresponding plurality of locking plates, meansfor releaseably securing said locking plates to said body member, eachof said locking plates being formed with an opening, said cylinder beingpositioned to extend through the locking plate openings, said tumblersand said plates having coacting inter-engaging portions, biasing meansnormally urging said coacting portions into engagement whereby toimmobilize said cylinder, said tumblers being formed with key engagingmeans permitting a key of predetermined contour to move said tumblersagainst the action of said biasing means to free said coacting meanswhereby said cylinder may be rotated.

2. A lock as in claim 1, including in combination a key guide positionedin said cylinder bore.

3. A lock as in claim 1, including in combination a crank adapted tooperate a lock bolt and means for securing said crank to said cylinder.

4. A look as in claim 1, including in combination a bushing mounted insaid body member, said cylinder being mounted for rotation in saidbushing.

5. A look as in claim 1 in which said tumblers comprise plates.

6. A look as in claim 1, in which said means for securing said lockingplates to said body member comprises a cover plate and screw mean-s formoving said cover plate toward said body member whereby to clamp saidlocking plates in a predetermined position.

7. A lock as in claim 1 in which said body mem her is formed with a pairof wings, each of said locking plates is formed with a pair of wings,said 1 locking plates being assembled in stacked relation with havingtheir wing portions positioned in the wing portions of said body member.

8. A lock as in claim 1 in which said locking plates are formed withwing portions having slots formed therein, said means for releaseablysecuring said locking plates comprising clamping screws passing throughsaid slots.

9. A look as in claim 1 in which said locking plate openings have thecross sectional shape of an ellipse, each of said locking plates beingformed with a pair of wings, the minor axis of said ellipses extendingin the direction of said one end of said spring to one of a pair ofadjacent tumblers and means for securing the other end of said spring tothe other of a pair of adjacent tumblers. i

CHRISTIAN GABRIELSEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Baird Sept. '7, 1920 Rogginger Feb. 6,1923 Briggs Mar. 13, 1928 Number Baird Feb. 19, 1929 a

